The Kubernetes API

The core of Kubernetes' control plane is the API server. The API server exposes an HTTP API that lets end users, different parts of your cluster, and external components communicate with one another.

The Kubernetes API lets you query and manipulate the state of API objects in Kubernetes (for example: Pods, Namespaces, ConfigMaps, and Events).

Most operations can be performed through the kubectl command-line interface or other command-line tools, such as kubeadm, which in turn use the API. However, you can also access the API directly using REST calls.

Consider using one of the client libraries if you are writing an application using the Kubernetes API.

OpenAPI specification

Complete API details are documented using OpenAPI.

OpenAPI V2

The Kubernetes API server serves an aggregated OpenAPI v2 spec via the /openapi/v2 endpoint. You can request the response format using request headers as follows:

Kubernetes implements an alternative Protobuf based serialization format that is primarily intended for intra-cluster communication. For more information about this format, see the Kubernetes Protobuf serialization design proposal and the Interface Definition Language (IDL) files for each schema located in the Go packages that define the API objects.

OpenAPI V3

Kubernetes v1.26 offers beta support for publishing its APIs as OpenAPI v3; this is a beta feature that is enabled by default. You can disable the beta feature by turning off the feature gate named OpenAPIV3 for the kube-apiserver component.

A discovery endpoint /openapi/v3 is provided to see a list of all group/versions available. This endpoint only returns JSON. These group/versions are provided in the following format:

{
    "paths": {
        ...,
        "api/v1": {
            "serverRelativeURL": "/openapi/v3/api/v1?hash=CC0E9BFD992D8C59AEC98A1E2336F899E8318D3CF4C68944C3DEC640AF5AB52D864AC50DAA8D145B3494F75FA3CFF939FCBDDA431DAD3CA79738B297795818CF"
        },
        "apis/admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1": {
            "serverRelativeURL": "/openapi/v3/apis/admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1?hash=E19CC93A116982CE5422FC42B590A8AFAD92CDE9AE4D59B5CAAD568F083AD07946E6CB5817531680BCE6E215C16973CD39003B0425F3477CFD854E89A9DB6597"
        },
        ....
    }
}

The relative URLs are pointing to immutable OpenAPI descriptions, in order to improve client-side caching. The proper HTTP caching headers are also set by the API server for that purpose (Expires to 1 year in the future, and Cache-Control to immutable). When an obsolete URL is used, the API server returns a redirect to the newest URL.

The Kubernetes API server publishes an OpenAPI v3 spec per Kubernetes group version at the /openapi/v3/apis/<group>/<version>?hash=<hash> endpoint.

Refer to the table below for accepted request headers.

Persistence

Kubernetes stores the serialized state of objects by writing them into etcd.

API groups and versioning

To make it easier to eliminate fields or restructure resource representations, Kubernetes supports multiple API versions, each at a different API path, such as /api/v1 or /apis/rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1alpha1.

Versioning is done at the API level rather than at the resource or field level to ensure that the API presents a clear, consistent view of system resources and behavior, and to enable controlling access to end-of-life and/or experimental APIs.

To make it easier to evolve and to extend its API, Kubernetes implements API groups that can be enabled or disabled.

API resources are distinguished by their API group, resource type, namespace (for namespaced resources), and name. The API server handles the conversion between API versions transparently: all the different versions are actually representations of the same persisted data. The API server may serve the same underlying data through multiple API versions.

For example, suppose there are two API versions, v1 and v1beta1, for the same resource. If you originally created an object using the v1beta1 version of its API, you can later read, update, or delete that object using either the v1beta1 or the v1 API version, until the v1beta1 version is deprecated and removed. At that point you can continue accessing and modifying the object using the v1 API.

API changes

Any system that is successful needs to grow and change as new use cases emerge or existing ones change. Therefore, Kubernetes has designed the Kubernetes API to continuously change and grow. The Kubernetes project aims to not break compatibility with existing clients, and to maintain that compatibility for a length of time so that other projects have an opportunity to adapt.

In general, new API resources and new resource fields can be added often and frequently. Elimination of resources or fields requires following the API deprecation policy.

Kubernetes makes a strong commitment to maintain compatibility for official Kubernetes APIs once they reach general availability (GA), typically at API version v1. Additionally, Kubernetes maintains compatibility with data persisted via beta API versions of official Kubernetes APIs, and ensures that data can be converted and accessed via GA API versions when the feature goes stable.

If you adopt a beta API version, you will need to transition to a subsequent beta or stable API version once the API graduates. The best time to do this is while the beta API is in its deprecation period, since objects are simultaneously accessible via both API versions. Once the beta API completes its deprecation period and is no longer served, the replacement API version must be used.

Refer to API versions reference for more details on the API version level definitions.

API Extension

The Kubernetes API can be extended in one of two ways:

1. Custom resources let you declaratively define how the API server should provide your chosen resource API.
2. You can also extend the Kubernetes API by implementing an aggregation layer.

What's next

• Learn how to extend the Kubernetes API by adding your own CustomResourceDefinition.
• Controlling Access To The Kubernetes API describes how the cluster manages authentication and authorization for API access.
• Learn about API endpoints, resource types and samples by reading API Reference.
• Learn about what constitutes a compatible change, and how to change the API, from API changes.